Gastronaut Ice Cream | Freeze-dried for adventure

$70,453

1,909

Gastronaut Ice Cream

Hi, I’m Robert and I founded this business because I love ice cream and adventure.

I started making my own freeze-dried ice cream a couple of years ago and it was so good that I quit my office job to make it full time.

Since then I’ve been traveling the country, taking lots of pictures, and developing Gastronaut Ice Cream from a dream into a real business. I plan to sell it online at gastronauticecream.com, and in stores, but the first ice cream bars will be exclusively for Kickstarter supporters who help fund the initial production run.

The Problem: Ice Cream Melts

The 1960s Solution:

Freeze-dried ice cream known as “Astronaut Ice Cream” allegedly went to space on Apollo 7 (though this fact has recently been disproved). It’s sold at space museums and camping stores. I’ve eaten it my whole life but it doesn’t taste that good because they start with the cheapest ice cream imaginable.

The Modern Solution:

I've sourced super-premium organic ice cream that's made in Brooklyn. You could scoop it up and put it on a cone. Instead, I slice it into rectangles and put it into a freeze-dryer for a day. After it’s freeze-dried, you pop it into your mouth, and it tastes just as good as the frozen ice cream it started with—actually better, because my secret is to add a touch of sea salt.

Eat it Anywhere

At your desk, rock climbing, on the subway, hiking, at the beach, doing laundry, at a cat cafe, sneak it into a movie, in church...you get the idea.

Why Kickstarter

I’ve been drying ice cream in a small freeze-dryer, which is the size of a dishwasher. This works for research and development but not full-scale production.

With your help, the next batch of Gastronaut Ice Cream will be freeze-dried in a large commercial machine. This helps bring down the cost because nobody wants to pay $18 a bar, no matter how good it tastes.

Stretch Goals

Press Materials

Risks and challenges

I'm fully dedicated to this project and delivering your rewards on time. No other side-job is holding me back. I plan to make Gastronaut Ice Cream a long-term success and keeping all of you happy is an important part of that.

Production of the product is all figured out. I've already spent months working with my ice cream supplier. And I've done test-runs at my contract freeze-dryer who has the capacity to handle large batches. Depending on the success of this campaign, I'll produce multiple batches in order to fulfill demand. Let's hope that happens.